Published in the Aug. 19 – Sept. 1, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Tracee Gluhaich
For the first time in the history of the United States, children have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. With better medications and vaccinations, less exposure to second-hand smoke, and a plethora of athletic programs geared toward kids, this prediction doesn’t seem possible. But childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 40 years. And one-third to one-half of children today are expected to get type-2 diabetes in their lifetime.
How did this happen? I believe the main culprit is sugar. We are eating way too much of this sweetener and it’s killing us. Our society — including people in Morgan Hill — are becoming highly addicted to sugar. But it’s not your fault.
You see, even from birth, we enjoy sweetness beginning with our mother’s milk. I remember when I started giving my babies food, they always preferred the sweet potatoes and carrots over the green beans and spinach. So what did I do as a “good mother” I just gave them more of the sweet veggies, and not the savory ones.
Even laboratory rats when given the choice of Oreo cookies, or the highly addictive drug cocaine, they were drawn to the cookie. Those rats dove head first into that creamy filling and then polished off the chocolate wafer.
“Sugar is eight times as addictive as cocaine. And what’s interesting is that while cocaine and heroin activate only one spot for pleasure in the brain, sugar lights up the brain like a pinball machine,” said Dr. Mark Hyman, author of “The Blood Sugar Solution 10-Day Detox Diet Cookbook.”
Our brain is looking for pleasure. Sugary foods create that pleasure by releasing tryptophan, which is the precursor to serotonin, the “feel good” hormone.
So when we get stressed out and are seeking that comfort food to calm us down, we reach for a bag of cookies or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
The food scientists know that sugar is highly addictive, so they put it in everything. Most people consume half a pound of sugar a day. They also often don’t even realize how much sugar is in so called “healthy” foods. The World Health Organization says an adult should not consume more than six teaspoons a day of sugar a day. Simply by chugging one of these following drinks you will surpass that limit or even double it:
• Vitamin Water = 8 tsp of sugar
• Starbucks Grande Vanilla Latte = 9 tsp
• Sprite 16 oz = 11 tsp
• Jamba Juice Strawberries Wild 16 oz = 14 tsp (even the light version has 8 tsp)
By now you are thinking: “OK, I get it, don’t eat any more sugar.” And that is good … but there is more. Sugar is not the only enemy here. Simply put, anything that spikes your blood sugar needs to be avoided or saved for special occasions.
Spiking your blood sugar creates inflammation and leads to obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, liver disease and kidney disease. Even cancer cells feed on sugar. The short-term effects can be lack of focus, energy crashes, irritability and tooth decay.
What else spikes your blood sugar? White rice, most breads, tortillas, potatoes, many cereals, granola bars, pretzels and most processed packaged foods.
You have heard all this before, and still continue to nosh on these foods. What must we do? Change your pallet!
Step 1: Simply replace the sweetness in processed foods with fruit. I love freezing half of a banana and enjoying it for a treat.
Step 2: Replace processed junk with whole, real foods. Choose brown rice or quinoa. Wrap your sandwiches in butter lettuce or romaine. Eat sweet potatoes or yams, whole oats or eggs.
Make your own bars and smoothies, kale chips, toasted almonds and frozen grapes. “Eat more leaves and peels and less wrappers and boxes,” as the saying goes.
Before putting that bite of sugar into your mouth, think about your children and our future generations. The pleasure from eating that bite is so short, but your children’s lives don’t have to be.
At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, we are hosting a screening of a new documentary film titled “Overfed and Undernourished” at the Centennial Recreation Center. Please join us and be inspired to nourish yourself to health.
Tracee Gluhaich is a local health coach and personal trainer. Check out her website at www.highenergygirl.com. She wrote this for Morgan Hill Life.
